Entertainment For Lively Minds
April issue arrives ... publisher resists terrible temptation
Posted by SpaceBoy on 7 March 2009 - 10:46am.
May I be the first to congratulate DH for managing not to use anything about April being the cruellest month, while writing about the Waste Land in his subscribers' letter.
Of course in the current economic climate this may be no more than a tasteful reluctance to tempt fate ... Anyway, set me wondering about T S Eliot references in songs.
Can only think of "Take a little trip back, with Father Tiresias " in a Genesis track, but I'd have thought there must be some more.
I'll read the rest of the issue this eve (and for much of the night ...)
I'll get me coat ...
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Throwing Muses
Pearl from the Red Heaven LP is full of allusions to Eliot, particularly Prufrock. "He has pearls in his eyes", etc.
It's ages since I heard that album, though, so cannot remember any more, but I'm sure there were loads.
I've got a train journey today, so hoping that the postie brings my copy today.
Isn't Eliot's "pearls in his eyes" itself a reference to
The Tempest:
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
gordon bennett
that is wonderful, isnt it?
Yes, absolutely, it's Ariel's song in Act I
A nice one from the Bard, there.
Had forgotten that Laurier Anderson
Speaks these lines somewhere to great effect, must dig that album out again.
Whereas
Gordon Bennett will always be associated for me with the Guinness book of records which I think described the heir, in a drunken state, mistaking a fireplace for a ceramic fitting more usually reserved for the purpose he had in mind.
We've all been there, I'm sure ... ;-)
Gordon Bennett?
No, it's Shakespeare, mate.
...but missing words
Maybe it the economic climate. But following teh unconstrained excitement of hearing this months Word drop through the letterbos, imagine my thrill at having received a *very" limited edition. That is, my copy starts on page 36!
Now I appreciate that in years to come I may be sitting on a highly-valuable collectors edition. But for now, I'd rather have te stuff I've missed.
Anybody care to summarise what I'm missing (contents page is part of the missing 36!).
Blimey
Get in touch, and we'll make sure you're sent a copy containing a full set of pages.
Damn you, damn you, damn you
I'm trying to write an Open University assignment on New York poet Frank O'Hara and thud! For the first time ever Word arrives on a Saturday whilst I'm at home.
Everything in package despite the bag being open at one end. Good article on the Decemberists - I'll have to read the rest later.
Driven to distract ... Now where was I, "where is the summit where all aims are clear"?
CD tracklisting
On first sight it looks like another good issue. This month's deliberate mistake is the tracks on the cd don't match what is listed inside the magazine. All goes Pete Tong around track 3.
CD tracklisting
Pretty sure that track 1 is Glenn Tilbrook and track four is the decemberists.
What 2 and 3 are is anybody's guess
Stuart Maconie's photo
In the photo on page 77 I can't decide if he looks more like Eric Burdon or Gary Glitter. Any alternatives?
The Hollow Men
From Marillion's Brave is directly inspired by the Eliot poem of the same name:
http://media3.7digital.com/clips/34/3417031.clip.mp3
1 line of text
and 25 lines worth of 'advert'?
Is this really something we want to encourage on the Word blog?
Are you paying for the Internet
per kilobyte or something? I fancifully imagined that people would just ignore if it they weren't interested.
No, but...
once someone starts adding adverts/widgets to their postings, it's the start of a slippery slope. I've seen it happen elsewhere - before long everyone is adding pictures, adverts, animations etc as signatures and the blog becomes unreadable
Can't see
it's any different from a YouTube vid in that respect, and at least it was for the Word's own digital shop such that if anyone did buy it both Word and the artist would get something from it.
Bad cover
Arrived this morning, horrified to see the cover, which presumably is an attempt to iron out the bump in increased sales caused by the divine Kate and beloved John. This is the problem with subscribing - you can't chose to not buy as you have already bought. Happily the content looks good though - excellent articles by Stuart Mac and on Nick Cohen. Hardly heard of anyone in the Best/Worst. Just as well I subscribe then, as my deep seated and inexplicable loathing of the PSB would have put me off.
Alternative covers
It really it is unacceptable that they cannot manage to produce covers that are approved of by all subscribers. Because there's always going to be someone who's not happy they should offer a selection each month and we can all have different ones that appeal to us. This would also require a similar variety of matching main features of course. Not too much to ask is it?
Mark
I was more interested in Mark E's explanation in an ancient podcast that a cover really has to earn it's place, c/f the Dido one which didn't - I'm trying to imagine the casual reader who would be attracted to buy Word with those two on the cover, assuming they know who they were in the first place!
Casual readers
That number would include many of the people who saw them receive their Lifetime Achievement Award at The Brits. Or the people who've bought the 50,000,000 records the band has sold. Aren't they one of the most recognisable duos in music? (well, perhaps not Chris Lowe).
Personally I don't have much time for the band's output, but I can't think of many musicians I'd rather read an interview with than Neil Tennant. He's certainly a lot more interesting than a lot of artists I actually like. So I'm happy with the cover.
As I ask every month
Given that subscribers don't need to be persuaded to buy the magazine, why does the subscriber's edition cover need any writing on it at all? Just let the picture speak for itself
What's wrong with just the Word logo, strapline (and best magazine flash)? No blurb and no 'Special Edition' needed
Adventures in Modern Music
I see that ingenious pranksters have even mocked up an alternative, giving it the name of DH's favourite TV show and continuing the bearded theme
http://www.thewire.co.uk/images.php?imageID=1734
They've gone so far as putting it on sale in my local
Somerfield ...
Know your niche
I don't think Dido is really a Word artist whereas Pet Shop Boys are for many readers, though not all. I would think those who occasionally buy the magazine would be interested. Music lovers of a certain age would know them and would quite likely be responsive, even if never bought an issue before. Younger folks would probably not have much of a clue, but then neither would they with most Word covers - doesn't really matter since they're not really the target market. I suspect they know their niche better than they used to!
Yes
You're probably right
Recognition
assuming they know who they were in the first place!
The words "Pet Shop Boys" in big red capital letters might be a clue.
You have to admit, though,
that those two silly old sods do look good for their age, don't they? I'm not a fan, but one or two of the singles have merit.
and their version of Where The Streets Have No Name
beats the pants off the original
Yes, that sales bump
... was definitely down to "The John Martyn effect". How could those 50 million-selling Pet Shop Boys even hope to compete?
I'm upset again....
Still haven't received the March issue - and its out in the local HMV. I know you lot had snow back in blighty, but surely its gone now ???
Not doing very well on the subscription front - since being convinced by one of the threads on here that previous issues with Q / Empire were a thing of the past, out of 4 issues, 1 has been very late and 1 went missing......
Replacement
Get in touch and we'll make sure you get a replacement for the missing issue.
Thanks
Mail duly sent with details. I was wondering though........there's always a push for us to subscribe for the cost savings it gives Word Towers, but surely having to keep sending out replacement copies somewhat negates this saving, or do the delivery company foot the bill ??
Subscriptions
Put it this way: we have to put two copies in the shops to ensure that we sell one. If you subscribe, we don't, and there's a lot less waste. It makes a huge difference.
Back to TS Eliot...
...How about all the songs from "Cats"? (altogether "Miiiiidddnight, not a sound from the paaaavvement"
A fair point there
especially as:
McCavity, McCavity, there's no one like McCavity,
he's a fiend in human form, a monster of depravity, etc etc
is exactly one of those things that does indeed swirl around the brain unbidden, as per another thread.
Not having seen the issue
I'm assuming this TS Eliot business started because of the Pet Shop Boys, yes? Because as well as West End Girls being inspired by The Waste Land, the line "At night, the people come and go they talk too fast, and walk too slow" (from What Have I Done To Deserve This?) clearly takes its cue from Prufrock ("In the rooms the women come and go, talking of Michaelangelo").
Nice to see Marillion's The Hollow Man in this list - a lovely, underrated song.
There must be some way out of this
Looked in Michael Gray's "Song and Dance Man", where Eliot, T S nestles between Elliott, Ramblin' Jack, and Eliot, George in the index ...
Nearest to a direct allusion seems to be "all the women came and went" in Watchtower, though TSE himself appears in Desolation Row.
Actually DH's subscribers letter
which kicks off with some stuff about the Waste Land-but glad of the serendipity
Crash Test Dummies!
They released a single (and album, I think) called "Afternoons and Coffee Spoons", which is lifted straight from TS Eliot's "Prufrock".
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
I do believe that Mister Malcontent by Lloyd and the Lads contains the line:
'Should I laugh or should I cry, or should I part my hair behind?'
Another J Alfred reference if I remember my English Lit.
Better not look at the bottom of page 123 then.
Sorry about that.
Guess I could make a weak
Guess I could make a weak excuse about my dog having eaten p. 123, but I guess the Editor feels there's only one thing to do with temptation, and that's yield to it ...
Not quite sure how I missed it, must have been entranced by the pictures above it.
The Sisters Of Mercy
loads of Eliot inspired lyrics, especially on Floodland, eg "we serve an old man in a dry season", or "The razor bites and the shriek subsides / he arches clutching at his sides." from Valentine, on The Reptile House EP.
Arguably one of the finest British bands of the last thirty years, and one well overdue some critical attention (hint, hint)
subscriber's letter
Am I the only one who didn't get a subsriber's letter this month? Usually on the back of the address sheet.......
In the Rooms the Women Come & Go... Anais Mitchell
Anais Mitchell sings "In the rooms the women come and go / talking on their mobile phones" in her brilliant song "Before the Eyes of Storytelling Girls"
A late entry
I knew Prufrock before he got famous
A full fortnight after the issue 'dropped' or 'streeted'
there's still no sign of it in my postbox here in Outer Mongolia/Ireland. I know the sub mailing process is automated, but come on now. Thanks and sorry for moaning.
To be fair
three years *is* a bit of a wait.
Hah!
Busted. Well spotted, skirky. *retreats to corner, dunce cap in hand*
The MMMMH, the Crash Test Dummies...
...fondly remembered by no-one, had a song called Afternoons and Coffeespoons, a Prufrock reference. Twats.
(Well, since the thread got the Lazarus treatment, I thought I might as well take it out for a pint to celebrate.)
Made worse
because it reveals how very clever it's being - Measured out in coffee spoons... like T S Eliot. Look at me! I read poems!
This is the Sting approach to literature. That book by Nabakov... yeah, we know, we got it.